CHILDREN playing happily on the swings at the village playground is a proud sight for the people of Weston.

Four years ago, many feared there would be nowhere at all for their children to play as plans were unveiled to sell off the village's solitary playing field for housing.

But Cheshire County Council's decision to off-load the land adjacent to the primary school on Mere Lane met with more than just horror from residents.

The proposals prompted a concerted campaign to save the site from the developers and preserve the scene of countless years of fun and games for generations to come.

So thorough was the campaign to save the Mere Road playing field, residents not only managed to convince the developers that building houses at the site was a bad idea, they also persuaded the county council to hand over control of the land to a community-based trust.

The last couple of years have seen dozens of villagers working tirelessly in their spare time to tie up the loose ends of land ownership and plan for a fully revamped playground.

Individuals who, a few years ago, did not now the first thing about planning law have gone head-to-head with professionals to argue the merits of this new development, while others have stretched the limits of resourcefulness to come up with tens of thousands of pounds to fund the project.

Now, just weeks after the final part of the field was handed to the trust, the new play area is already giving children a healthy option for amusement away from their Playstations.

David Pepper, of Millbeck Close, chairs the Weston Village Playing Fields Trust formed to take charge of the field. He said: 'What the people of this village have done is take on the county council to put in place what they thought should have been provided by the authorities in the first place.

'Ever since the campaign began we planned to develop the field ourselves, but we always said it would take several years to complete.

'But what is truly remarkable is we are now ahead of schedule and under budget.

'Everything has been done by trustees, residents, organising work themselves, negotiating with contractors and getting their own hands dirty.

'Sheer persistence behind the scenes has helped get prices down and get the work done as efficiently as possible.'

Equipment delivered just last week means the play area is at least a year ahead of schedule.